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Happy Valentines Day to our Under the Oaks lovelies! This evening my husband and I have a night on the town planned, dinner and a show, Les Miserables at the Raleigh Theater and I’ll tell you what, I’m looking forward to leaving my house! I’ve been cooped up here for a few days (2014 Snowpocalypse) and I’m happy to use the elusive V-Day as an excuse to bust out of here.

I’ve always been a fan of Valentines Day, personally. I’m also a fan of Jodi Picoult’s newest literary selection, The Storyteller. You more than likely know Picoult’s work if you are familiar with “My Sister’s Keeper”, but she has many more novels that have just as compelling and controversial storylines as ever. If you are not familiar with Picoult’s work, you are missing out. A typical piece of Picoult work will take as many controversial topics as possible and mix with dozens of shocks, twists, and emotions and you’ve got yourself a literary piece of work. Continue reading →

I love, love, loved the book I selected for September’s Book Review! So you can only imagine how excited I am to share it with our Under the Oaks readers. I’d love to say I stumbled upon it myself, but I did not. A short time ago one of my oldest, and dearest friends, Elizabeth, brought it up in conversation. She spoke on and on of love languages and how a couple often doesn’t speak the same language. She spoke of her love language and the things that made her feel most loved. Her source, Dr. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts. Cheesy title, not so cheesy content.

Dr. Gary Chapman originally spoke of the love languages in 1995 with his release of The 5 Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. Chapman, a relationship counselor and a North Carolina-native, is the author of an entire series of books regarding The 5 Love Languages and has traveled the country and even spoke on his own radio station, counseling couples and teaching them the various dialects of the love languages. The five languages: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, or physical touch. The basic gist is that in order to fill our “love tank”, as Chapman likes to refer to it, we have the need to both give and receive all of the love languages on some level, but we really truly have one language that we speak that we respond to the most. Continue reading →

This past weekend Annie and I co-hosted a Book-themed baby shower for a very dear friend (and avid reader) of ours. It was a lot of fun to plan, but boy was I happy to have a partner in crime! We pinned all sorts of ideas via Pinterest from decor to menu ideas, games, and more.

On Thursday Annie will show off more of our work and photos from the festivities. Today I am focusing on one of the DIY decor items … A Very Hungry Caterpillar! We had pinned a project that was very similar, but did not include any sort of tutorial. So if a tutorial is what you are seeking, you are in luck! Continue reading →